The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what students know and can do in various subjects. NAEP serves a different role than state assessments. States have their own assessments that are designed to provide individual student data about achievement on different content standards. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education, administers NAEP as mandated by Congress and does so in every state. This provides a common measure of achievement that allows for comparisons of achievement to the nation and participating urban districts. The results of NAEP are released to the public as The Nation's Report Card. Teachers are essential partners in NAEP. Teachers promote understanding of what influences student learning and can use NAEP questions as a resource in the classroom. This brief document highlights important dates and information about the 2015 administration of NAEP, how NAEP reports results, and recent NAEP findings. [This publication was prepared for the National Assessment of Educational Progress by Hager Sharp under contract to the National Center for Education Statistics.]